Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday that his Cabinet has decided to retroactively legalize three West Bank outposts that previous governments had conceded were built without permission, marking the first step toward what critics fear will become Israel's first official new settlements since 1990.

Government officials said it was inaccurate to characterize the legalization process as establishing new settlements, noting that the three outposts were founded in the 1990s, reportedly with the government's blessing. Officials said the outposts only lack certain technical authorizations and planning permits, which now will be given.

"This decision does not change the reality on the ground whatsoever," said a government official who was not authorized to speak publicly on the issue. "It does not establish new settlements or expand existing ones."

The decision late Monday by a Cabinet committee begins a long administrative process to authorize the small settlements of Rehalim, Sansana and Bruchin.

Most people I talk to, seem to think the "outposts" are like something coming out of John Wayne movie. This is a picture of Rehalim:

Here's Bruchin:

I did not find any pic of Sansana, but you get the idea: nice houses, paved roads, families... Hardly the idea most americans have of outposts and settlers!

While we are at it, somehow I had missed the news that a Jerusalem court ruled last week that a building taken over by Jewish settlers in Hebron in 2005 was not legally purchased. Wasn't the arab seller condemned to death by the PA because of that sale? Ridiculous!

I really admire Bibi Netanyahu, but he needs to take more time to read the Scriptures, and he needs to place his trust in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. I mean, who else is he going to trust for help? Obama? LOL

Thank you for posting the photographs. Far too many people believe that these communities are a couple of trailers alone on a hilltop, rather than places where families have lived for years.

The community that Ehud Barak wants to tear down in Beit El is especially egregious. That community has been there for more than a decade, and the sale of the land was never recorded in order to save the life of the Arab who sold it to them (see what is happening in Hevron, where the Arab who sold a building to Jews has been condemned to death and nobody is lifting a finger in protest). Because the sale wasn’t recorded, the court has ordered the destruction of the homes and eviction of the residents, and left-winger Barak is only too happy to comply.

6
posted on 04/25/2012 7:18:53 AM PDT
by Piranha
(If you seek perfection you will end up with Democrats.)

the sale of the land was never recorded in order to save the life of the Arab who sold it to them

It never crossed my mind that could be the reason some Israelis are having such a hard time proving that they have purchased some land. Or why, after years of living somewhere, the land is declared by the courts to belong to a Palestinian. It never made any sense to me, but I never thought it was purposefully done, in order to save someone's life. It only makes this a double tragedy! What do they say, no good deed goes unpunished?

10
posted on 04/25/2012 8:47:20 AM PDT
by Former Fetus
(Saved by grace through faith)

Unfortunately, there is an active international effort to “de-Judaize” Israel. See, as the most egregious example, the efforts of the Palestinian Authority to deny that the area abutted by the Western Wall was the site of the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem.

It is unfortunate that Judea and Samaria (what are called the “West Bank” are the oldest portions of the Biblical historic homeland of the Jewish people, and the Mediterranean coast, where Tel-Aviv, Herzliya, Haifa, etc. are located was the Canaanite plain, which comprised areas that were added a bit later.

12
posted on 04/25/2012 9:13:32 AM PDT
by Piranha
(If you seek perfection you will end up with Democrats.)

I presume then, that the Israeli constitution has no prohibition on ex post facto laws.

The prohibition on ex-post-facto laws mainly means that you cannot punish an act which was legal at the time it was performed, nor impose penalties greater than were prescribed at the time of performance.

That is not the case here.

13
posted on 04/25/2012 9:21:02 AM PDT
by PapaBear3625
(In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act. - George Orwell)

You're right, homes and roads. Families. Kids. Parents with jobs. But as you can tell from all the empty space in the backgrounds, these must have been built on destroyed Arab homes. Thus the world doesn't care.

Tel Aviv's founding.

See all those destroyed Arab homes. If it wasn't for the Jews, Intel and Motorola would have their research facilities in an Arab land.

15
posted on 04/25/2012 5:29:09 PM PDT
by SJackson
(As a black man, you know, Barack could get shot going to the gas station, M Obama)

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